2008 was an historic election in terms of the election of the first African American to be president and the largest number of voters at the polls in our history. But in this modern age, there is no excuse for privately-owned voting machines that breed mistrust, confusing ballot designs, polling places with long lines, voter registration laws that leave nearly a third of Americans off the rolls, an Electoral College system that undercuts equality and voting methods that suppress voter choice and stifle fair representation.

In the eight weeks since the Republican convention, the major party candidates for president and vice-president have devoted 99% of their campaign visits to 17 states and 81% of their campaign visits to only ten states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. With the exception of New York, these ten most-visited states are heavily contested battleground states with relatively large populations. This stockpiling of campaign attention into a handful of states is a direct consequence of the current Electoral College system. That system is governed by state statutes that by 2012 may be replaced by the National Popular Vote plan for president where every vote will be of equal weight wherever it is cast.